How To Make The Special Sauce

The “special sauce” that makes a Big Mac a Big Mac is neither that special nor much of a secret — store-bought mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish and yellow mustard whisked together with vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika — according to numerous accounts.

Nonetheless, it is part of the iconic formula that goes a long way to define the last 50 years of American fast food.

Likewise, the “special sauce” of native advertising is no secret, but the results produced can be very special indeed.

Native advertising can stand on its own. In fact, CTW’s native advertising for local businesses has yielded dramatic results to increase a sponsor’s ranking in organic search. But real magic begins when you add the special sauce of social media.

A few well-conceived, well-timed Facebook posts and Twitter tweets will work wonders for the native ad sponsor and the hosting local medium.

Here’s how it works:

  1. You post your client’s native article on your website with links to relevant content on your client’s site.
  2. Within 24 hours, the client posts on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to let followers know you have posted an article about them. Of course the post includes a link to the article on your site.
  3. Followers go to take a look. Ideally, they share the post with their own followers and friends by hitting
  4. “Share,” “Like,” “Re-tweet” or equivalent.
  5. Google’s algorithm sees the inbound links to your site and the traffic.
  6. The client’s search ranking increases.

The trick, of course, is to get several Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest posts from the same article. Each time the native article is cross-pollinated, the magic takes place again, until the law of diminishing returns sets in and it is time for a new article starting the process all over again.

The cool thing about this synergy between native advertising and social media is that it is not only good for the advertisers, but also good for the local media company hosting the native articles.  Google rewards increases in traffic and inward links — the more of them, the better.